Bibra Lake Bungee Tower

By the summer of 1993, more than 2,600 jumps had been made. Except for a couple of days per week during the winter season, Christmas Day, New Year's Day and Good Friday and unless there was a forecast of bad weather, they were open every day.

 

All Jumpmasters (staff facilitating the jumps) had undergone a minimum 12 month on-site training course and all had an excellent knowledge of the safety systems being used. Jumpmasters were also being sent to other bungee jumping sites around the world to improve the quality of their training, including locations in Cairns, New Zealand, Nepal and Cyprus.

 

The minimum age to jump was 13 years and for those aged between 13-15, a parent or guardian were required to attend to sign the waiver. For those who liked to abseil, $30 could get you a few descents off the 40 metre bungee tower.

 

Interestingly, Bungee West had a registered NCAGE Code (Z6B14) "for doing business with international governments".

 

These days, the big T-shaped yellow structure remains abandoned, in a state of continuing degradation.

 

Laser Corps

In December 2014, Laser Corps made an application to the City of Cockburn to use the land comprising of the bungee tower and its remains (p.55) for their laser tag skirmish games.

 

Created in 1982 by George Cart III, the invention of laser tag system technology led to movies such as Star Wars and Star Trek. Using parallel infra-red beams of light, laser tag systems, "involves shooting guns with encoded infrared beams and IR sensors that normally receive the light and signal the process, "registering when you are hit by a beam.

 

The council granted their application, which was zoned as Private Recreation and requested that they obtained written consent from Adventure World to share the main carpark, which was owned by the council (p.49). Limitations for the maximum amount of patrons at any one time was set to 36 with a maximum of 100 per day.

 

​The neighbouring Perth Waldorf School raised an objection to the application being heard. They considered the, "proposed use has connotations of violence and non-peaceful ways of conflict resolution, which are inconsistent with the school's core values" (p.56). Although they had erected screening along their common boundary, to enable the school to continue as normal whilst protecting students from witness such violence, they requested Laser Corps shared at least half the screening costs.

 

Waldolf education is a form of education based on the philosophy of Rudolf Steiner, which aims to create a formal educational, therapeutic and creative system using natural means to optimise physical, mental health and well-being of their students.

 

Closure

Naturally rumours abound on the internet, specifically in forums, as to why Bungee West suddenly closed. One commenter on Reddit stated that the Jumpmaster was drunk and didn't secure the rope or harness properly before a patron fell to his death. Whilst it sounds like the typical story one might hear on why such a place would close, this particular story sounds familiar and I could have sworn I saw a newspaper article published on it between 2008-2010 but haven't managed to find it again.

 

Others tend to comment on the maintenance costs of the tower, as well as increasing insurance costs, although the latter in particular, certainly sounding probable.